The Distribution of Non-Purchased Fuel Carbon Emissions in Pakistan

Household carbon emissions in low- and middle-income countries may be systematically underestimated when non-purchased biomass fuels are excluded from empirical analysis. In many such settings, households rely not only on market-based energy sources but also on firewood, dung cakes, and agricultural residues obtained outside formal market transactions. Because household budget surveys (HBS) primarily record purchased consumption, emissions associated with these non-purchased fuels are typically omitted from standard assessments. This issue is especially relevant in Pakistan, where traditional biomass continues to play an important role in household energy use, particularly among poorer and rural households. Using data from the 2018 Pakistan HBS, this paper incorporates carbon emissions from non-purchased fuels to provide a more complete picture of household energy-related emissions. Empirically, the study combines descriptive analysis with econometric modelling and employs a selection-adjusted quantile regression framework to account for both the non-random incidence of non-purchased fuel use and heterogeneity across the distribution of consumption. The results highlight substantial heterogeneity in the determinants of non-purchased fuel use, with household composition, housing characteristics, and access to modern fuels playing different roles across consumption levels. Selection effects are also important, supporting the use of selection-corrected methods. At the lower end of the distribution, reliance on non-purchased fuels is widespread and closely associated with rural residence, lower income, and limited access to modern energy. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the level and distribution of household carbon emissions in Pakistan and highlight the importance of accounting for non-market energy use in distributional environmental analysis.